The Iron Triangle Of Energy: How To Improve Energy Cost, Reliability, & Emissions
Ron Miller, PE, MBA, CEM, REP
Energy Industry Consultant | Conventional Power | Renewables | Decarbonization | Professional Speaker | Author | College Instructor
This is a 13-week series of Linkedin posts providing the preface and the abstract for each of the 12 chapters of my book.?
If these posts interest you, please consider purchasing my new book, “The Iron Triangle Of Energy: How To Improve Energy Cost, Reliability, & Emissions”, available now through my publisher, River Publishers at this link:?
My book’s Preface is shown below as an introduction to the topics discussed in the book. In subsequent weeks, I will post abstracts from the 12 chapters.?
Preface?
I see decisions that are currently being made that will alter the course of our global energy supply, consumption, cost, and emissions. For the very complex and timely energy problems at hand, some of these decisions by good people with good intentions have not considered all of the key variables, and have inadvertently ignored some of the key variables.?
Consequently, there is a huge need for more energy education and mentoring for consumers, students, industry, and government to assure we make the best financial, technical, environmental, and engineering decisions for the future.?
Toward that end, I am passionate about sharing my knowledge, experience, and expertise to inspire the current and upcoming generations of engineers, environmental scientists, industry decision makers, financial modelers, regulators, and government leaders. For the past five years, I have written monthly energy articles on LinkedIn and EnergyCentral.com. My audience response has sparked me to write this book.?
You will find pertinent graphs in each chapter that will help paint the big energy picture and allow you to grasp quickly the key issues found only by comparing historical records of energy issues, decisions, and performance with the current global needs.?
The book title is derived from a frequently-quoted gem of wisdom in software development which goes something like, “fast, good, or cheap – pick two.”?
“Known as?the Iron Triangle, or Triple Constraint, this concept will be familiar to anyone who has ever felt the pressure of weighing the opposing forces of quality, speed and cost against each other.” The concept of the Iron Triangle has emerged over time out of these general assumptions:?
·?????? “You can develop something quickly and of high quality, but it will be very costly to do.
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·?????? You can develop something quickly and cheaply, but it will not be of high quality.
·?????? You can?develop something of high quality?and low cost, but it will take a long time.”
This concept has parallels with global energy generation, consumption, cost, reliability, and emissions. It could go something like this: energy – cheap, reliable, or clean, pick two. Life is full of tradeoffs that we choose to make each and every day. Keeping in mind that our world is not utopia and we will have to make some difficult decisions or tradeoffs, will ground us toward a more comprehensive and realistic energy transition.?
A quote by Joseph Joubert that I will share with you now regarding the current global energy discussion and debate follows:?
“It is better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle a question without debating it.”?
We need more openness, debate, conversation, and sharing of information before we arrive at the energy decision, lest we make a very costly mistake without the necessary airing of all the possibilities to aid us in providing a fair review.?
As we look toward the future, it’s important to look at our global use of energy in the generic sense, including electricity, coal, oil, natural gas, and biofuels. Changing the mix of energy will be a challenge, considering that overall energy consumption encompasses electricity, industrial heat, and transportation fuels.?
One of my key tools in solving past energy problems has been to employ the Pareto Principle, commonly known as the 80/20 rule. As an energy community we need to focus our efforts on the 20% of the candidates, such as generation, pricing, and/or emissions, that cause 80% of the energy problems in our society. Doing anything else is wasting precious human, time, and financial resources that will provide only a sub-optimal solution to the main problem under consideration.?
I have organized the book into 12 chapters to address problems that I see in our current handling of energy, including generation, cost, reliability, and emissions.?
Finally, we must not forget the ultimate consumer who is paying the bill for more costly energy, and/or suffering the consequences of a grid that may not be 100% reliable in the future.?
Ronald L. Miller
Energy Industry Consultant | Conventional Power | Renewables | Decarbonization | Professional Speaker | Author | College Instructor
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